Vessel Vocations

March 21, 2010

A floating vegetable salesman sells vegetables from his shikara. - Srinagar, Kashmir, India - Daily Travel Photos
(Srinagar, Kashmir, India)
f/2.8 ▪ 1/1250s ▪ @200mm ▪ ISO200 ▪ Canon 5D ▪ Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8
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A boat-bound vegetable salesman peddles his wares from a shikara (a Kashmiri flat bottom boat).

I'm attempting to redeem myself from a sad photo showing yesterday by publishing excessively today. My energy is somewhat back after a night of rest and I found a decent cheap enough internet cafe to upload today's batch of photos. Hopefully, I'll have enough energy tomorrow to actually walk around Antwerp and snap a few photos of this historic port city in Belgium.

srinagar morning market vegetable seller
A shikara driver smokes a sheesha pipe while resting from paddling tourists around Dal Lake. - Srinagar, Kashmir, India - Daily Travel Photos
(Srinagar, Kashmir, India)
f/7.1 ▪ 1/500s ▪ @117mm ▪ ISO200 ▪ Canon 5D ▪ Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8
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A shikara driver smokes a sheesha pipe while resting from paddling tourists around Dal Lake.

For those with a photographic memory (pun regretfully intended), you'll recognize our friendly old shikara driver from a photo last month. All morning, he hocks up purple goo from his lungs and the first chance he gets, he sucks down some more carcinogens for good measure. Somehow I think he's got it all under control though. For a man his age, he's got almost supernatural strength which may or may not extend to a pair of cancer-proof lungs.

muslim man smoking shisha
A fisherman on Dal Lake tends to his net. - Srinagar, Kashmir, India - Daily Travel Photos
(Srinagar, Kashmir, India)
f/7.1 ▪ 1/400s ▪ @200mm ▪ ISO200 ▪ Canon 5D ▪ Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8
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A fisherman on Dal Lake tends to his net aboard his shikara.

Yet another occupation derived from the deck of a Kashmiri flat-bottom boat on Dal Lake. Probably unintentional but I'm loving the matching pants' color to that of the boat deck. If only we can do something about that shirt.

muslim man fishing net
A flower salesman trawls Dal Lake for some customers.  - Srinagar, Kashmir, India - Daily Travel Photos
(Srinagar, Kashmir, India)
f/5.6 ▪ 1/500s ▪ @146mm ▪ ISO200 ▪ Canon 5D ▪ Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8
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A flower salesman trawls Dal Lake for some customers.

As shown above, the livelihood of many of Srinagar's citizens are directly tied into the well-being of Dal Lake. Beyond all reason, local Kashmiris often use these waters as their personal garbage bin. Srinagar residents already complain about the lake's depths growing shallower and shallower every year due to the amount of trash at the bottom, not to mention the floating plastic bags and candy wrappers on the water's surface.

This concludes another set of archive photos (on the weekends). Stay tuned for regularly scheduled photos tomorrow.

srinagar flower seller boat